I'm going to be controlling a whole lot of LEDs with an arduino. The way I've got it set up I need to run them each in parallel, no series'. I plan on running them at 10mA and there may be anywhere from 300 to 500 of them, I don't know quite yet. I wanted to use a laptop power supply or something because of the high amp output but I was told that it is inefficient regulating a high voltage laptop power supply down to 5v for LEDs. I would be fine with a 5v 5A power supply but they are super expensive(>$50), and I can get a laptop power supply for about $10.
Is a laptop power supply really a bad idea with a high power voltage regulator? How should I do this, and can I do it without too much expense?
Thanks
Is a laptop power supply really a bad idea with a high power voltage regulator? How should I do this, and can I do it without too much expense?
Thanks